The US military said two US Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in an attack suspected to have been carried out by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) in Syria on December 13. The incident occurred when a gunman attacked a convoy of US forces and Syrian partners before being shot down on the spot.
According to information from the US Central Command, 3 other US soldiers were injured in the shooting, as the soldiers were in contact with local leaders in the city of Palmyra, central Syria. The partner forces later killed the attackers. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed this information on social media.
According to a senior US official, initial assessments show that IS is likely to be behind the incident, although the organization has not yet claimed responsibility. The area where the attack occurred was not under the control of the Syrian government.
Three local officials told the press that the attackers were members of the Syrian security force. Noureddine el-Baba, a spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Home Affairs, said the subject did not hold a leadership role and was previously assessed to have extreme ideology. He said Syria had warned of the risk of an IS attack in the area, but said that the coalition forces did not take this warning into account.
US President Donald Trump, in a post on the Truth Social platform, pledged to take very severe retaliatory measures, and expressed condolences for the passing of 3 people he called patriots. He also described it as a terrible attack when responding to the press.
Syria's state news agency SANA quoted security sources as saying that two Syrian soldiers were injured and were taken by a US helicopter to the Al-Tanf base near the Syrian border.
US special missionary to Syria - Mr. Tom Barrack - condemned the attack and affirmed that the US will continue to coordinate with Syrian partners in the fight against terrorism. The US is still maintaining troops in northeastern Syria as part of a multi-year effort to deal with IS.
